I managed to post three videos since my last update.
A vlog about burning Iron: https://youtu.be/46YlW8qjp_c
Burning Iron Attempt 2: pure-ish oxygen: https://youtu.be/SURy8xRsRp4
A video essay about robotics and automation: https://youtu.be/TisXw8zS5r0
The slightly expanded essay is below for your reading pleasure.
This post is also available in video form: https://youtu.be/pXXad5FmkiU
Aluminum is wealth. That sounds strange – it’s cheap, and it’s a recent invention. But the fact that we can all get use (goods and services) because of things made of aluminum is a kind of wealth. And it’s an example of a bigger principle. When someone tells you something is rare or scarce and equates that to value, remember this. Value comes from enabling more people to enjoy something, not from preserving its exclusivity.
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I had to take a break from social media because I was spending too much time worrying about people being wrong ABOUT SCIENCE on the internet (credit to XKCD for articulating it first). I moved house and had to focus on catching up at work. But the subject nagged me. I started working on a long form writing project about anti-science online. Why are people against science? There are a lot of answers to that question. It’s not as simple as just saying “fundamentalism” and throwing my hands up. I want to understand the problem better.
As I started researching the issue, I found a book called The War on Science. I realized that I don’t need to write a book about this because it has been done already (and better than I could manage). The book is exhaustive.
Continue readingEvolution, capitalism and science are anti-fragile. Nassim Taleb introduced the idea to my consciousness.
Top-down optimized systems are always fragile. These three phenomena are not fragile. In fact, they gain from being shocked.
Evolution, capitalism and science also share this common algorithm: systematic, brutally honest trials of proposed solutions, followed by ruthless rejection of failures and amplification of successes. The human psyche may not be well-adapted to appreciate such systems. We seldom like honesty or rejection.
There are five people at the table. One of them owns the table, the turkey, the stuffing, the salad and the pies. The other four people all pooled their resources to buy the cranberry sauce and the casserole. The richest 20% of Americans own 84% of the wealth in America.
This graph is distribution of the Bottom 80%. This graph tops out at $100K. The people who own the vast majority of America are not even on this graph.
I got on this topic thanks to”The ‘American dream’ is actually Swedish.” Sweden is a social democracy, if I may remind the reader. http://www.thelocal.se/30008/20101103/
Data:
Dr. Peter B Allen - Lab Blog 
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